John Honovich

People often talk about the hypothetical benefits of police using a facility's video surveillance to help respond / mitigate casualties in active shooter attacks. Doing this can be tough unless the technology and policies are in place to get that video immediately to the responders. However, in Colorado, this looks to have worked well.

"Relying on building maps and "incredibly dramatic" live surveillance video, police outside the Colorado Planned Parenthood clinic that was under siege Friday were able to prevent the tragedy from becoming even deadlier, an official said."

"Police then watched as the gunman roamed the clinic. People had scrambled to all parts of the facility seeking safety — a file room, a consultation room — and as the gunman came toward them, "officers in the command center were communicating with them by cellphone, telling them to lay down on the floor," Suthers said."

"Once it was determined that the assailant was no longer near them, the officers freed those hostages"

That's a pretty powerful description.

It's certainly worth using for a real example of how this can make a difference.

The biggest technical bottlenecks include:

The police having the app / software to see the cameras. Typically this is proprietary.

The police having password / authorization to access the cameras.

The police having network access to the cameras. Often, this is firewalled, requiring a VPN or a single whole is punched open, still requiring to find out the IP address / port.

The police knowing how to get the 3 above solved in minutes.

Anyone who knows more about this specific install or similar setups, please share.

The world's leading video surveillance information source, IPVM provides the best reporting, testing and training for 10,000+ members globally. Dedicated to independent and objective information, we uniquely refuse any and all advertisements, sponsorship and consulting from manufacturers.